This invention relates to a drawing processing apparatus and a drawing processing method wherein three-dimensional data is produced based on map data and also to a display apparatus which uses the drawing processing apparatus and the drawing processing method.
Apparatus and methods which pertain to the present invention are disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3520703 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-29382 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-66944 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 3), and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-229706 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 4).
To produce three-dimensional image data based on map data and display the three-dimensional image data as a 3D (three-dimensional) image on a display screen is implemented, for example, with a vehicle-carried or portable navigation apparatus or a like apparatus.
Particularly a navigation apparatus can switch a map display mode between a conventional two-dimensional (2D) display mode and a 3D display mode in response to an operation by a user or the like. As already known, in the 2D display mode, a map image is displayed in a planar form around the position of a self vehicle (vehicle in which the navigation apparatus itself is incorporated). On the other hand, in the 3D display mode, an image is displayed such that the user can look out over to a remote location as in a case of actual scenery toward an advancing direction (viewing or line-of-sight direction) from a location in the proximity of the position of the self vehicle.